Last year it was no secret that Dallas Offensive Line and Secondary were both suspect. This off-season we tackled both early, often, and hard.

In terms of secondary, we brought in the veteran Kerry Rhodes to give a little leadership to the back-field and well as a wealth of experience. But the real saving grace is what we did in the CB area. Newman, a major liability, along with Alan Ball and Frank Walker are all gone. Jenkins new starting partner is non other than Brandon Carr - the CB we valued as best in Free Agency. With Carr, we have a nice starting three in Carr - Jenkins - Scandrick. But to ensure we are constantly improving, we drafted the very talented Boykin to learn, grown, and eventually become a great player for us. Our secondary is no longer our weak link.

Now, onto the Offensive Line. We moved Smith and Free to their more natural positions. And we brought in a total of 5 new players to the interior line. A subtle combination of experienced and rookie, the aim was to provide depth and fierce competition to bring out the very best. We will not settle like we did last year. You have to earn your role here. And what's more, we are getting much younger. 4 out of the 5 spots are set for the future, and this staff is very high that all 5 spots are indeed set up already.

Along with that we provided some no energy to the QB realm, and brought in a talented RB to be a back-up. We shifted the Defensive Line around to maximize our talent, and boy we sure do have a lot of talent there. We also have plenty of young and eager players learning in the LBer unit to prove themselves.

Overall, this was a major set forward to winning a championship. Well done everyone!

Camp Battles!

In no order....

Back Up QB
Drew Stanton vs. Nick Foles
The Rookie against the veteran. Stanton is the heavy favorite to win out the number 2 job behind Romo, but Foles is here to push him and see if he can win out right.

Back Up RB
Michael Turner vs. Phillip Tanner
Turner is being paid well for one year, but he knows he is not the longer term answer for Dallas. Tanner hopes to be the solution. He will get his chance all throughout training camp and get 5-8 touches per game to show what he is made of. He is fighting for his future. Expect Turner to win outright.

Offensive Guards
David Arkin vs. Bill Nagy vs. Kevin Kowalski vs. Bobbie Williams vs. Josh LeRibeus
Double D has the RG spot on lock, but the LG spot will be an open competition. Competition tends to bring out the best in people. Expect Leribeus to need more time to adapt to the NFL level and he loses out. As does Williams. Williams slides into more of a teacher and valuable veteran role. Nagy/Arkin/Kowalski give us a fierce competition but ultimately Arkin wins out.

Center
Bill Nagy vs. Ben Jones vs. Kevin Kowalski vs. Zane Taylor
After last year, Dallas brings in a ton of guys to compete for the starting job. Here a rookie ends up winning but the competition brings out the best in players.

Defensive End
Jason Hatcher vs. Sean Lissemore vs. Marcus Spears
With Ratliff as on starter, these guys duke it out to be the other starter. In the end Dallas will use the same tactics they used in the 90's and provide massive amounts of rotation to keep everyone fresh. Lissemore impresses coaches and wins.

Nose Tackle
Antonio Garay vs. Josh Brent
We brought in an exceptional vet to push our home-grown talent. Brent is able to learn a lot from Garay, and whole he loses out the right to be starter, the two rotate a lot to keep each other fresh. Next year Brent takes over.

Outside Linebacker
Cordarro Law vs. Anthony Spencer vs. Victor Butler
Spencer is fighting for his future, as is Butler, and Law gets a chance to earn his stripes. Law is too green and slides in behind Ware to learn from him. While Butler impresses the coaches in practice, he does not do enough in the game to supplant Spencer. Spencer remains the starter.

Corner Back
Orlando Scandrick vs. Brandon Boykin vs. Pat Lee
Nickle, Dime, and first Back-up are all up for grabs. These guys compete to see who will contribute where. Scandrick remains our NCB. Boykin slides into our Dime. And Lee remains primarily a ST player. Scandrick becomes the first back up.

Returners
Brandon Boykin vs. Raymond Radway vs. Dwayne Harris
These three battle out to be the most useful player to their team. Boykin ends up winning out. Although Radway contends for the KR. One mess up, and Radway takes over.

Needs for Next Year

1. Safety
With virtually every other position locked up for the future, Safety becomes our biggest glaring hole. Luckily next years class is full of potential. Expect to see at least two early picks dedicated here.

2. OLB
This one is a maybe, if Spencer proves he is not worth a long term commitment and both Butler and Law are insufficient to fill the role, OLB becomes our second most important need. But this one is subjective.

Those areas are really the only two glaring needs, the rest below are potential.

3. Defensive Line
With Ratliff and Garay both on the wrong side of 30, look for the club to try and infuse more youth into the mix. But no dire need for a starter yet.

4. Running Back
With Turner leaving, Murray and Tanner will need a third playmate. Not a high priority.

5. Tackle
A new back-up RT will be needed. And possibly a new back-up LT. Our starters are entrench for a long time, so this is just to churn the roster.

6. Tight End
Getting close to the point where finding a replacement for Witten is coming up. Not a pressing issue yet, but having a 3rd body to help out would not be a bad thing.

7. Quarterback
Someone to push Foles and Stanton. Perhaps the heir apparent to the Dallas Empire?

8. Wide Out
New players to push for the 5th and 6th spot.

Overall we are set up very nicely for the future. Limited needs so we are able to just reload instead of rebuild.

Do you guys still want me to do these? I'm sincerely sorry I haven't followed through up to this point. My plan all along was to finish what I started, but I signed up for a class schedule this quarter at UW that my peers call "death row"._________________ '
Richard D!ck Sherman 4 Prez

Do you guys still want me to do these? I'm sincerely sorry I haven't followed through up to this point. My plan all along was to finish what I started, but I signed up for a class schedule this quarter at UW that my peers call "death row".

Though I am admittedly curious, do what you gotta do. You've put it out there...we get you're stretched thin on time. Truth is, even if you explained an overall letter grade or rank, people would still be asking you for further reasons for your decisions! Of course, you could just give an overall grade or rank and simply refuse to comment on it other than it's based on your draft board. Some will [inappropriate/removed], but you were not obligated to do this in the 1st place, so screw `em._________________Adopt a Bill:
CB Ronald Darby - 46 Tckl, 5 Ast, 0 Sck, 10 PDef, 0 Int, 0 FF, 0 TD
RB Mike Gillislee - 56 Rsh, 326 Yds, 4 TD, 20 FD, 8 Rec, 40 Yds, 1 TD, 1 FD

Do you guys still want me to do these? I'm sincerely sorry I haven't followed through up to this point. My plan all along was to finish what I started, but I signed up for a class schedule this quarter at UW that my peers call "death row".

Though I am admittedly curious, do what you gotta do. You've put it out there...we get you're stretched thin on time. Truth is, even if you explained an overall letter grade or rank, people would still be asking you for further reasons for your decisions! Of course, you could just give an overall grade or rank and simply refuse to comment on it other than it's based on your draft board. Some will [inappropriate/removed], but you were not obligated to do this in the 1st place, so screw `em.

Well, if I do it, I'm gonna go all out. I would do the entire summaries for each team with a grade at the end so it would be clear what my reasoning was. I'm going to try and find time for it, and hopefully take it down in chunks. The problem is I've been thinking of this as a 32 team project which I simply don't have the time for. But if I knocked out 8 teams each day for 4 straight days that wouldn't be too bad._________________ '
Richard D!ck Sherman 4 Prez